New Bern Corridor Study

Update!
On January 17th, the Raleigh City Council voted unanimously to endorse a study that proposes improvements to the New Bern Avenue corridor. City staff was directed to implement short-term and long-term action items recommended in the New Bern Avenue corridor study.

The City staff thanks all CAC chairs, members, community leaders, residents, business and property owners, stakeholders, and participants for their active involvement, participation, and contributions to the successful completion of this study.

Background
Running east from downtown Raleigh to Wake Medical Center, the 440 Beltline, and beyond, New Bern Avenue is a historic gateway and heavily traversed transportation corridor. Unique among the four major gateways into downtown by virtue of its cultural significance, width, and attractively landscaped median, it shows signs of wear, and the lack of pedestrian facilities along its length is no longer acceptable as it has become the City's most heavily used transit corridor.
The New Bern Corridor study area includes the right-of-way and property frontage of New Bern Avenue and Edenton Street from Swain Street to the WakeMed /Crabtree Creek area. The preliminary goals of the study were to identify ways to improve the appearance of the corridor; to support pedestrian, bicycle and transit uses along the corridor; and to stimulate economic development initiatives and revitalization in the area. An extensive public process was utilized to identify specific issues along the corridor, consider opportunities to enhance the appearance and multi-modal function of the corridor, and identify appropriate actions to implement the necessary improvements. The outcome of the recommended improvements will renew New Bern Avenue as a model gateway that communicates Raleigh's pride in its cultural and architectural history and improves the safety and convenience of residents and visitors along the corridor.

The study of the New Bern Avenue corridor from Swain Street to Crabtree Creek proposes to renew and refresh the corridor through a mix of public and private reinvestments. The study recommends short-term and long-term action items in major areas. These areas are land use and redevelopment; cultural landscape; frontage typologies; streetscape design; sidewalks, crosswalks and street lighting; transit patterns; stormwater management; public realm landscape; and public safety and public health. Specific recommendations include:

• Improve corridor appearance through landscape plantings, public art, and wayfinding signage to recognize the history and identity of each section of the corridor.

• Support pedestrian, bicycle, and transit use through a Complete Streets design strategy for transit, bike, and pedestrian accommodations and improved stormwater management techniques.

• Extend and connect sidewalks along the corridor, into neighborhoods, and to greenway trails, and locate additional crosswalks and median refuges for pedestrians to improve pedestrian connectivity and convenience.

• Reduce the bus headways to 15 minutes all day and continued upgrading of transit passenger amenities.

• Stimulate economic development and revitalization by using regulatory incentives and targeted public investment to reposition key sites for appropriate (re)development.

The approved draft of the report is now available for review:

Draft Report Hi Res (95 mb)

Draft Report Lo Res (7 mb)

In addition, the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) evaluation completed by the Raleigh Police Department staff for the general study area is available for review:

CPTED Report

The preliminary inventory report is available for review:

Issues and Opportunities Report

Next Steps

• Initiate implementation of Action Items Matrix included in the report

• Continue coordination of infrastructure improvements with NCDOT

• Pursue funding options

• Process Comprehensive Plan amendments in July 2012 public hearing